Filings Week Ending 2020 November 07

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases recently filed, for which outcomes remain largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-11-01 Search Period End: 2020-11-07 Earliest Case: 2020-11-02 Latest Case: 2020-11-07 Total Cases: 161 Total Transfers: 11 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 60.9% Of those, percentage pro se: 60.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Rowe Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Bristol The number of filings this period is statistically significantly below the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 42 26.1% southeast 40 24.8% central 19 11.8% eastern 16 9.9% western 14 8.7% metro_south 11 6.8% haverhill district 9 5.6% malden district 5 3.1% fall river district 3 1.9% barnstable district 1 0.6% orleans district 1 0.6% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63 1 Natural Person 98 160 Total 161 161 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 39.1% 0.6% Natural Person 60.9% 99.4% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 57 6 63 Optional 39 59 98 Total 96 65 161 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 35.4% 3.7% 39.1% Optional 24.2% 36.6% 60.9% Total 59.6% 40.4% 100.0% Defendant Representation Important: Defendants will not have an attorney known to the plaintiff at time of filing unless this is an ongoing matter. 100% pro se is to be expected in all filing reports except to the extent time passes between filing and staff review. See outcomes report for final assessment. (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1 0 1 Optional 6 154 160 Total 7 154 161 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.6% 0.0% 0.6% Optional 3.7% 95.7% 99.4% Total 4.3% 95.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 14 8.7% 1 94 58.4% 2 44 27.3% 3 6 3.7% 4 1 0.6% 5 1 0.6% 6 1 0.6% Total 161 100.0% Note: Households may appear with zero adults either in cases of identity protection (e.g., 42 USC Sections 13701 through 1404 Violence Against Women Act) or where no adult (18 or over) remains in the home. Initiating Action Count Percent Non-payment 92 57.1% Cause 29 18.0% Other 19 11.8% No Fault 15 9.3% Foreclosure 6 3.7% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Rowe 254 1 Shelburne Falls 56 1 West Yarmouth 37 2 Provincetown 33 1 Dunstable 31 1 Nahant 29 1 East Sandwich 28 1 Fall River 28 25 Edgartown 24 1 Haverhill 21 13 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Ashburnham 16 1 Centerville 14 2 Ayer 13 1 Hopkinton 13 2 Fairhaven 12 2 Blackstone 11 1 Auburndale 10 1 Mattapan 10 4 Ware 10 1 Everett 9 4 Athol 8 1 Lowell 8 9 Lynn 8 8 Rehoboth 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Charlton 7 1 Hyannis 7 1 North Andover 7 2 Wayland 7 1 Bellingham 6 1 New Bedford 6 6 Whitman 6 1 Brockton 5 5 Greenfield 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Newburyport 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 Easton 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Worcester 4 8 Andover 3 1 Danvers 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 Dracut 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Revere 3 2 Springfield 3 6 Beverly 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Fitchburg 2 1 Framingham 2 2 Hyde Park 2 1 Methuen 2 1 Quincy 2 2 Salem 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 Malden 1 1 Medford 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Taunton 1 1 (not given) 0 1 Boston 0 2 Cambridge 0 1 Rate per 100,000 residents based on 2010 census. Municipalities do not appear if no evictions filed. Where neighborhoods are commonly recognized as municipalities, data appears under the neighborhood rather than the legal entity (e.g., "Roxbury" is separate from "Boston".) Where municipalities have alternate spellings (e.g., Marlboro for Marlborough), totals appear under the long form. Efforts are made to correct clerical errors in the court database, but clerical errors may appear. Rate per 100,000 County Renter Households Count Bristol 43 36 Barnstable 41 8 Essex 31 35 Franklin 28 3 Dukes 24 1 Hampshire 16 3 Plymouth 16 7 Middlesex 12 29 Hampden 11 8 Worcester 11 13 Suffolk 6 13 Norfolk 4 4 Berkshire 0 0 Nantucket 0 0 Rate per 100,000 renter households based on 2019 ACS. Counties appear even if no evictions filed. -- Data Sources (report errors to hello@masslandlords.net): County Data Households Percent Renters Barnstable 96,509 20.0% Berkshire 53,792 30.0% Bristol 220,528 37.3% Dukes 18,146 22.6% Essex 297,898 36.9% Franklin 30,927 34.1% Hampden 179,970 39.5% Hampshire 60,002 30.7% Middlesex 612,366 38.1% Nantucket 11,399 30.8% Norfolk 269,717 31.6% Plymouth 191,041 22.6% Suffolk 309,945 63.7% Worcester 316,162 35.2% County Households: 2019 ACS TableID S1101 County Households and Renters, Dukes and Nantucket: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts County Households and Renters, Large Counties: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=S11&g=0400000US25.050000&d=ACS%201-Year%20Estimates%20Subject%20Tables&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1101&hidePreview=true Dukes County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts Nantucket County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/nantucketcountymassachusetts -- Methodology Publicly available records at MassCourts.org are read fully manually at two intervals: 1.) For a filings report, once within approximately one week of filing; 2.) For an outcomes report, once again approximately 12 to 18 months after filing. This effort costs more than 1 FTE. Summary spreadsheets are produced by copying exactly what is read. The spreadsheets are processed using proprietary software. Repeated analyses of local spreadsheets does not burden the MassCourts servers. The software is developed using best practices for revision control and regression testing. Limitations: Data are snapshots. As such, we cannot track individual cases over time or produce real-time reports. MassLandlords does not have access to court databases beyond what is published in human readable form at MassCourts.org. As of this report, MassLandlords staff were not considering information available to attorneys (e.g., the contents of notices, discovery, evidence, etc.) but not available to the general public. All data presented here are readily verifiable at MassCourts.org without special permission. Information is not independently verified outside of the court record. For instance, clerical errors in address, omissions of a defendant, etc. are not readily verifiable. As this process matures, reporting algorithms may change. Transfers are counted as new cases. Clerical differences between original case and transfer (e.g., middle initial included then dropped; defendant dropped on transfer; street address spelling changed) as well as the potential for indefinite circular transferring (e.g., foreclosure cases moving between housing, land, and/or superior courts) make it very difficult to programmatically identify continuing matters. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.